The Results Are In: Decoding Dog Breeds with DNA
Last week on Outside's dog blog, OutsideK9.com, readers guessed the breeds that make up Assistant Editor Carr's dogs, Rio and Odin. Results from the Canine Heritage Breed test were in transit from the lab.
Today, the results are revealed. Head over to the dog blog to find out if you were correct!
And be prepared to be completely shocked by the findings.
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November 02, 2009
Decoding Dog Breeds
Ever wonder what breeds make up your mutt? Certain breeds are happier to live an outdoor lifestyle than others are. Rhodesian ridgebacks, for instance, can withstand extreme heat and cold and they love miles-long runs, so they make good companions for distance runners. Chesapeake bay retrievers, on the other hand, are some of the strongest swimmers, making them ideal for river trips.
Assistant Editor Alicia Carr tries to crack the DNA of her two shelter dogs with the Canine Heritage Test, which involves only a simple cheek swab. Head to Outside's dog blog, Outsidek9.com, to read the first part of the story. And, to take a guess at what breeds make up Editor Carr's dogs.
There's already a pool going on in the comments section.
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June 26, 2009
Surfer Dogs?
Fifty furry surfers from around the country gripped it and ripped it, according to Surfer Magazine, with more than 1,000 spectators at this year's fourth annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Dog-Surfing Competition in Imperial Bay. Pups sporting board-shorts and sunglasses hot-dogged it by surfing backwards and even walking the nose of their doggie-sized boards in three categories: large dog, small-dog, and tandem.
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April 28, 2009
The Wildrose Training Methodology
Stewart with Ducks Unlimited mascot Deke
As we launch our blog further introduction is in order. This is a getting-to-know-you session on the Wildrose training methodology. Read up, post your questions as comments, and we’ll do our best to answer them.
If you’re new to OutsideK9.com, you’re probably wondering what The Wildrose Way is, and how it’s different from all of the other training methodologies out there. First, you’ve got to understand what my trainers and I aim for in finished dogs, here at our kennels outside of Oxford, Mississippi. When potential clients inquire, the first thing I ask is, What do you want from your dog? Over the years, the answers to that question have gradually focused into two main categories—both companions for a sporting lifestyle.
The first, we’ve taken to calling the Gentleman’s Gundog. Once finished, these dogs are capable of hunting and retrieving multiple types of game plus serving as a fantastic companion for the family.
The second, we call The Adventure Dog. These are dogs that will retrieve game but have additional training specific to other activities like boating, biking, skiing, camping, fishing, etc. These are loyal and obedient dogs that complement a family’s sporting lifestyle.
The Wildrose Way, then, is how we get to these two outcomes, which, as it turns out, share a lot in common: Heeling beside a bike is very similar to heeling beside a mounted rider on a quail hunt. Sporting lifestyles place dogs in some of the most demanding and distracting situations for even the best-trained canines. These include working off lead, sometimes at great distances from the handler, and often in the face of enormous enticements like wildlife, hikers, other dogs, and gregarious humans. We’ve tailored our methods specifically to these situations.There’s a lot of animal psychology out there that relates to dog training, but theories alone don’t add up to an incremental training method that produces finished dogs. The Wildrose Way applies a blend of operant conditioning and pack leadership (the theories) to a series of training drills (the mechanics) and an overarching philosophy for interacting with our dogs to get us to those end points. Our ultimate goal is to help people form strong bonds and greater understanding of the dog for the smart, social animal it is and not the baby in a dog suit it’s so tempting to imagine.
The Wildrose Way avoids the use of force—heavy-handed techniques like toe and ear pinches, heeling sticks, e-collars, and check cords—in favor of positive reinforcement that rewards dogs for correct responses. Positive reinforcement isn’t just less mean from a human point of view, it brings out the natural ability of the dog by encouraging him to offer behaviors without the threat of pain. There’s a time and a place for force, namely as a last resort to stop unsafe behaviors like bolting after wildlife or other dogs, but we believe behaviors are best shaped by consistent reinforcement to the point of habit formation. We structure our relationships with dogs as a pack hierarchy and train owners to do the same.
Our unique drills, exercises, techniques and conditioning are primarily reward-based, all designed to entrench the desirable behaviors and skill sets necessary for control, performance, and civil conduct. We build a strong foundation of obedience—critical for every dog, whether a hunter, service animal, or house pet—and then slowly layer on specialized skills for a wide variety of situations. Follow along, ask any question, and check in often.
Our training e-newsletter and archives are available at uklabs.com.
—Mike Stewart
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April 21, 2009
Danger at the Ritz
by Grayson Schaffer | on April 17th, 2009 | in Features
Come, sit down.
Dog-friendly hotels provide an interesting training environment, and few hotels are as dog-friendly as the Ritz-Carlton at Bachelor Gulch, in Beaver Creek, Colorado. (The hotel even has it’s own mascot Labrador, Bachelor.) Here are some of the challenges you’re certain to encounter with a cute dog in a nice hotel:
1. Aggressive petters: These are the folks who fairly dive in on the poor (lucky) dog and, in no time, have him sprawled on his back like a cockroach receiving affection. Meanwhile, the handler hangs onto the leash and tries to pretend like he doesn’t notice what’s going on.
* The Opportunity: Learn to identify these people from a distance and beat them to an interaction. Before they can close in, ask if they’d like to pet the dog. Then tell them the dog has to sit first and ask the Petter to try to use calming pets on the head and shoulder rather than going straight for the belly.
* Or, you can just return the favor by heavily petting the stranger or his/her companion. I’ve never actually tried this, but I think you should.
Continue reading "Danger at the Ritz" »
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Puppy Day at Wildrose
by Grayson Schaffer | on April 17th, 2009 | in Features
Friday was puppy day at Wildrose Kennels, in Oxford, Mississippi. Three litters went home with people who had flown in from as far as Michigan, Washington, and California. I met my mom in Memphis, where we rented a car and drove down to pick up our new pups—hers from Whiskey and Piper and mine from Hamish and Carol. Here’s the highlight reel.
Continue reading "Puppy Day at Wildrose" »
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April 15, 2009
One to Watch for Obedience
The How of Bow Wow!
Even though it came out in 2004, The How of Bow Wow! is still the DVD to beat for careful explanation of early obedience training. Sherri Lippman and Virginia Broitman spend the full 84 minutes on the little stuff—like eye contact and resisting temptations—that you’re likely to rush by in order to get to the fun stuff, like retrieving. They use clickers and treats shape early behaviors that will become habits is you instill them early. Whether you’re training a hunting dog, a service dog, or a stay-at-home pal, these skills apply. Take them seriously, or regret it later. $35
--Grayson Schaffer
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April 13, 2009
Katie's Bumpers
Bottle Trackers
Here's a cool Boulder, Colorado-based company that's started producing fun, colorful dog training equipment based on the more drab, standard hunting and obedience tools. These Bottle Trackers are hollow sections of firehose that can be filled with a single-serving water bottle for water retrieves or stuffed with scented rags for laying down scent trails. $14
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April 10, 2009
Yoga With Your Dog?
The Times ran a story today on people doing yoga with their dogs. The dog in the opening photo appears just as uneasy as I am about this new enterprise.
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Extreme Measures for Determined Trash Raiders
It's come to this
Q. I can’t get my dog to stop knocking over the trash like it’s a ghetto liquor store. You got anything fuzzy and “positive” for that? —Randy
A. Randy, first thing’s first. Danger’s a trash eater, too, but when
he does get in there, it only means that two other things have gone
wrong, first:
1. He’s roaming and not lying on his dog bed. No good can come from a dog that roams the house. He’ll never clean up after me, and more likely will just make messes himself. Your dog should be conditioned through repetitive training to either stay on his dog bed or lie at your feet. If he’s there, he’s not in the trash. If he does get up and wander over to the trash, start with a calm leave it.
2. If you’ve got a trash dog, he shouldn’t be left in the house unattended. That’s asking for trouble. I’ve got a friend who stacks kitchen chairs up on her couches and rubberbands the cabinets shut when she leaves, just so the dogs won’t get into trouble. Instead of trying to dog-proof your house, just leave the dog in a fenced area when you’re gone.
If all else fails, here’s a hillbilly technique* . . .
(Note: Attempt this one at your own risk, and definitely don’t try it with young, small, or sensitive dogs—only large, thick-skinned, repeat offenders. This means you, 80-pound Labs.)
There’s a branch of dog training called respondent conditioning. That’s a fancy way of saying that you’re using the dog’s natural reflexes to your advantage. Think of a dog that’s gun shy or scared of thunder, snakes, vacuum cleaners, or hair driers. It only takes one gunshot or snake bite for a dog to know he doesn’t want any part of guns or snakes.
To fix my problem, then, I taped an unbaited Victor mousetrap to the trash can with the bar down so it would snap up under Danger’s chin, rather than down onto his nose. The next day: Snap! Yelp! No more trash. Now, if there’s some place I don’t want danger to be, like under the coffee table, I just leave an unset trap there and can be reasonably sure he’ll give it a six-foot berth.
More notes of warning: Definitely don’t use a rat trap. (You do know the difference, right?) Those could do real damage. And if you’re desperate enough to think this is a good idea, pad the bar of the mouse trap with something soft like a few wraps of duct tape.
*Disclaimer: Triggering a shock reflex in a dog is a risky proposition. If the dog associates the pain with you, say if you’re standing right next to him when the trap goes off, he may never trust you again. It could also lead to fight rather than flight reflex and get you seriously hurt. You’ve been warned.
—Grayson
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